Introduction to My Product

Again, welcome to my design blog! To read a little more about who I am and my goals, check out About Me. Here is a brief summary:
  • I am a first year at Wellesley College
  • I hope to become an engineer and pursue my interest in energy development
  • I am also interested in economics and want to learn how to apply energy technology to economic systems
  • I am still learning about myself...
Two central goals I have for this class is 1) to enhance my creativity as an engineer and 2) to gain a better understanding of my engineer style. Whereas the latter will become clearer over time, I have already started to resolve the former through my exploration of the VHS tape

VHS Tape

Being the nostalgic person I am, I constantly find myself watching classic musicals and black-and-white films. In doing so, I have gained an appreciation for the revolution that the invention of film caused and has led to in the modern era. VHS and cassette tapes radically changed the social interactions between people as well as how society interacts with technology. On one side, the invention of film is described as having led society to be more dependent on technology for social relationships. A counterargument highlights how film positively enhanced the level of imagination and creativity in a society. Both VHS tapes and cassette tapes rallied to the public’s demand for a new frontier in creativity and expression, in addition to a technological demand for more accessible and portable means of communication and societal interaction. Though small, this invention has had quite the impact. I am particularly curious as to what provoked the thought of creating “moving pictures” as well as what aspects were considered in order to make it an appealing and manageable product.

I wanted to find something that really encompassed my appreciation for those black-and-white dramas and classic musicals we all love. So, when I went to grab my own tape of Casablanca, I knew then that the creation of the VHS tape is the revolutionary product for which I was looking. 

(b) Size Comparison: VHS vs. Betamax (top)
In my pre-research of this product, I discovered several pieces of information that interest me:
  • The Video Home System (VHS) competed against another format called Betamax but eventually won out. (1)
  • After the video tape recorder was developed in the the late 50s in collaboration with Victor Company of Japan (JVC), two main companies Sony Corporation and Matsushita Electric (now Pansonic) sought to develop a video recording format in collaboration with Victor Company of Japan. (1)
  • However, it was JVC in 1971 that produced an internal matrix diagram titled VHS Development Matrix. (2, 3)
A very important piece of information that I found was that in this internal matrix diagram (2) the engineers listed twelve objectives (similar to what we did in the Application Features group the other day):
  • The player must be compatible with any ordinary television set.
  • Picture quality must be similar to a normal off-air broadcast.
  • The tape must have at least a two-hour recording capacity.
  • Tapes must be interchangeable between players.
  • The overall system should be versatile, meaning it can be scaled and expanded, such as connecting a video camera, or dub between two players.
  • Players should be affordable, easy to operate and have low maintenance costs.
  • Players must be capable of being produced in high volume, parts must be interchangeable, and must be easy to service.
At the very beginning, they outlined the objectives and purpose behind this product before producing a detailed design (See picture to the right, c). As a final note, I researched the specifications of a standard VHS format.

The VHS cassette is a 187 mm wide by 103 mm deep, by 25 mm thick plastic shell (3), which is held together with five Phillips head screws. Also, as noted in class, a VHS tape is designed to rarely break or have the tape twisted, and I believe a factor in its efficiency is its flip-up cover (3, 4), which protects the tape and has a built-in latch with a push-in toggle on the right side. 

The VHS cassette also includes an anti-despooling mechanism (3, 4): several plastic parts near the front label end of the cassette between the two spools. The spool brakes are released by a push-in lever within a 6.35 mm hole accessed from the bottom of the cassette, about 19 mm in from the edge label.


References

Comments

  1. UnknownSeptember 10, 2013 at 7:19 AM

    Very nice post with good research. In the future, please number your references and refer to those numbers in the text, so we know what goes with what.

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownSeptember 10, 2013 at 7:21 AM

    Just read your About Me ... I want to hear more about that robot. Were you on a FIRST team?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Christina HolmanSeptember 10, 2013 at 7:46 AM

    Yes, I was -- and loved every minute of it. I was really fortunate to also be on the field as part of the drive team and experience the intensity of the competition. Our media team made this video about our robot if you want to see it (much neater than me describing it): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-wAH0K0a7w&feature=youtu.be

    ReplyDelete

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